Benjamin Haddad (; born 23 October 1985) is a French politician who has served as Minister Delegate for European Affairs in the governments of successive

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Michel Barnier Michel Jean Barnier (; born 9 January 1951) is a French politician who was Prime Minister of France from September to December 2024. A member of a series of Gaullist parties ( UDR, RPR, UMP, LR), Barnier has served in several French cabinet p ...

and

François Bayrou François René Jean Lucien Bayrou (; born 25 May 1951) is a French politician who has served as Prime Minister of France since December 2024. He has presided over the European Democratic Party (EDP) since 2004 and the Democratic Movement (France ...

since 2024. A member of

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

(RE), he previously served in the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

from 2022 to 2024, representing Paris's 14th constituency, which encompasses most of its

16th arrondissement The 16th arrondissement of Paris (; ) is the westernmost of the 20 arrondissements of Paris, the capital city of France. Located on the city's Right Bank, it is adjacent to the 17th and 8th arrondissements to the northeast, as well as to the ...

Early life and education

Haddad was born in the 16th arrondissement of Paris in a

Sephardic Jewish Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

family from Tunisia. He obtained a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

in international affairs from

Sciences Po Sciences Po () or Sciences Po Paris, also known as the Paris Institute of Political Studies (), is a public research university located in Paris, France, that holds the status of ''grande école'' and the legal status of . The university's unde ...

in Paris and an MA from

HEC Paris HEC Paris () is a business school and ''grande école'' located in Jouy-en-Josas, a southwestern outer suburb of Paris, France. It offers Bachelor, MiM, MSc in International Finance, MBA, EMBA, executive education, professional developm ...

in financial economics.Benjamin Haddad

Atlantic Council The Atlantic Council is an American think tank in the field of international affairs, favoring Atlanticism, founded in 1961. It manages sixteen regional centers and functional programs related to international security and global economic prosp ...

Early career

From 2014 to 2018, Haddad was a fellow at the

Hudson Institute Hudson Institute is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1961 in Croton-on-Hudson, New York, by futurist Herman Kahn and his colleagues at the RAND Corporation. Kahn ...

in Washington, DC. From 2019 to 2022, he worked as senior director of the

's Europe Centre. In 2019, he published his book ''Le paradis perdu : L'Amérique de Trump et la fin des illusions européennes''.

Political career

Prior to being elected to the

, Haddad was an activist within the

Union for a Popular Movement The Union for a Popular Movement ( ; UMP ) was a Liberal conservatism, liberal-conservative List of political parties in France, political party in France, largely inspired by the Gaullism, Gaullist tradition. During its existence, the UMP was o ...

in the early 2010s. He joined

Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...

En Marche Renaissance (RE) is a political party in France that is typically described as liberal and centrist or centre-right. The party was originally known as (EM) and later (, LREM, LaREM or REM), before adopting its current name in September 2022 ...

movement in 2016, which would later be renamed La République En Marche! and Renaissance. In the 2022 legislative election, Haddad defeated Francis Szpiner of The Republicans in the 14th constituency of Paris with 53.2% of the second-round vote. In Parliament, he served on both the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Committee on European Affairs. In addition to his committee assignments, he chaired the French-Ukrainian parliamentary friendship group. In December 2023, Haddad co-authored a joint letter of more than a hundred senior European lawmakers to their counterparts in the United States, pleading for the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

to unlock further military aid to Ukraine in response to the Russian invasion of the country. In September 2024, Haddad was appointed to the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

of Prime Minister

as Minister Delegate for European Affairs under Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot. In the days following his appointment, he announced he would advocate for the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

to tighten its immigration policy guidelines: "Everywhere, in all of our countries, beyond the left-right divide, there's a strong demand from our citizens to take control of our immigration".Clea Caulcutt and Nicholas Vinocur (30 September 2024)
France’s new Europe minister will push Brussels to tighten migration rules
''

Politico Europe ''Politico Europe'' (stylized as ''POLITICO Europe'') is the European edition of the American news organization '' Politico'' reporting on political affairs of the European Union. Its headquarters are located in Brussels with additional offices in ...

''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Haddad, Benjamin 1985 births Living people HEC Paris alumni Sciences Po alumni Renaissance (French political party) politicians Deputies of the 16th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Deputies of the 17th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic Members of Parliament for Paris Government ministers of France Members of the Barnier government Jewish French politicians Politicians from Paris